Duncan TuckerA popular commercial and recreational area located on the eastern side of Colombia’s bustling capital, Bogota’s Parque de la 93, or 93rd Street Park, is one of the city’s most pleasant sites.
With water features, immaculate gardens and views of the surrounding mountains, the park is a great place for a weekend picnic or a relaxing stroll at lunch or after work. It is located just north of the Zona Rosa, an upscale neighborhood brimming with hip restaurants, nightclubs, art galleries and shopping centers.
The park itself is often filled with temporary art exhibitions and hosts a number of festivals throughout the year, and every December it becomes home to an enormous Christmas tree that draws crowds from across the capital.
The perfect place to enjoy that famous Colombian coffee, the park is flanked by the popular Café Renault, the Juan Valdez Café and the oldest Starbucks in Colombia. There are also many gourmet eateries around the park’s perimeter, including the intimate Gato Negro restaurant, an ideal setting for dates.
Although popular with tourists, the area is just as commonly frequented by wealthy Colombians so expect to see members of Bogota’s jet-set crowd dancing to live music in Kukaramakara or watching the soccer with a beer in Salto del Angel.
(Special thanks to our photographer Cesar Santos for these great images!)
Parque de la 93 is a fabulous neighborhood. Around or within a block of the park you will find: “Galeria Cafe Libro”, a cafe and gallery that at night becomes an awesome salsa/cumbia dance school: a very nice “Juan Valdez” with great views of the park; “Pesquera Jaramillo”, an excellent high-end fish restaurant; some of the best burgers in Colombia at “El Corral Gourmet”; the “Alliance Francaise” and the “Goethe Institut”; one of my favourite boutique hotels “El Click-Clack”; a very nice “Noble” bookstore; “Karal”, a very good Peruvian restaurant; and (I do not know why you would do this!) the first Starbucks in Bogota. Cheap eats? McDonalds, and Subway. Cheaper eats? a cart sells fantastic arepas at the corner of 11 and 93-A. The park is impeccably clean and very safe, a great place to read a book, or just watch well-off Bogotanos go about their lives.